Dechert is bumping first-year salaries by $20k to $125k for its Philly & Princeton offices (the Boston office already pays $125k for first-years, down from $135k in 2001). It's a stupendously awful idea. Boston firms did the same thing in response to salary hikes over in Silicon Valley. If one firm raises the salary, most others must follow to maintain...

British police want to destroy a tell-all written by Princess Diana's former bodyguard. Apparently their legal "precedent" is the confiscation of profits from a book written by a serial killer. Somehow that gives them the right to confiscate and destroy all copies of a book that "may have revealed operational police details that could compromise future royal protection operations." Or,...

Although this hasn't been updated since the spring job search season, it looks like a great resource for those hunting for public interest jobs....

If you can afford it, don't live with a roommate. And if you can't afford it, don't live with a roommate. It is so not worth it....

MIT's Sloan School of Business won't be adding courses on ethics because there is no need to. I kind of imagined the problem was that business ethics wasn't properly taught in business school. Dean Schmalensee's argument for the status quo (he gives no concrete examples of how teaching ethics will be integrated into the curriculum) just makes no sense. You...

Sam Heldman is hosting an blogger's open!...

The eight partners jumping Hutchins, Wheeler & Dittmar's sinking ship for Weil's Boston private equity practice say it was "not a reaction" to the Hutchins Wheeler and Nixon Peabody merger. It just so happened that "Hutchins Wheeler and Nixon Peabody and we [the moving partners] and Weil Gotshal started discussions in tandem." Yeah, I don't believe you....

I was horrified to hear the USPTO's plan to automate the administration of patents and trademarks includes the destruction of millions of documents. Not only are the current electronic archival systems buggy, the documents themselves represent an important historical and cultural resource. Research institutions and libraries constantly struggle with the promises of "efficient" electronic archival and search systems. Entry errors...

Smaller Boston firms actually racked up per partner increases in 2001. Some of them were even able to achieve such a feat without resorting to lay-offs (although there are never numbers on forced exits and attrition rates). Despite record lows in hiring and record highs in firing in 2001, The Boston Business Journal reports it was merely the last quarter...

Mr. Grasso, Chair of the New York Stock Exchange, forgot to tell anyone he owned stock as a director of Computer Associates, International. Well, actually, CAI's lawyers advised him he didn't need to report it. If one is required to make these public disclosures, the determination to do so should not be made by the entity that has an interest...

Some people think my views on attorney-client privilege and reporting fraud, or possible fraud, or reporting of confident client information by over-zealous attorneys (you get the picture) are the very thing that corrupted the accounting industry in the first place. Not so. I do indeed understand that the shareholder is the client (as do, I suspect, others who share my...

This year, Harvard Law School will allow the United States Military to participate in on-campus recruitment. Since Vietnam, Harvard's administration has long militated against military involvement on its campus. ROTC was kicked off-campus (undergraduates must pursue military training at MIT) and military recruiters have not been allowed at the University since it instituted a non-discrimination policy. Most law schools allow...

The rumor mill is grinding again, and this time, Mintz Levin is the grist. After profits plummeted by $200,000 per partner and the recent cuts to its support staff, it wouldn't at all be a surprise to hear Mintz is losing some of its buoyancy. The firm had planned to book 30% 3Ls as interviewees in the upcoming fall recruiting...

Jurist at Pitt has done a nice little site redesign. Nothing major, but there is blog-incorporation. Looks good! Plus, they're linking to me (and maybe some of you!), which makes me all warm and fuzzy. What I really love about this site is that it's appropriate for all sorts of legal academics and professionals and non-professionals (like me) and just...

I'd like to direct you to these rare public comments by Chief Justice Rehnquist. It really is of the utmost national importance. Link via Lawblog.com....

I've not been around a computer the past several days. Everything shall be in full swing again this afternoon. Since you are not spending time reading me, I shall direct you to Sua Sponte. Especially if you are a new and/or older law student. I will continue on my massive sleep-bender as part of the fine law student (or any...

Lessig has caught the fever and is now officially blogging. Newsfeed is here....

After a massive power outage disrupted my spaghetti & meatballs preparations last night, I had nothing better to do than read the Hale & Dorr propaganda recruiting materials they so kindly forwarded to me in the mail. (Note to 1Ls: apply to all the firms after December 1st, even though you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting...

On Monday, incoming first-years at the University of Utah were rounded up into court as part of their five-day orientation to the wonderful world of law (see the Salt Lake Tribune). There they participated in a ceremony similar to the lawyer's oath, swear[ing] to "obey and defend the Constitution," "discharge the duties of law student and future attorney with honesty...

Yay Reagan appointees! (Or at least two of them.)...

Habeas Inc. is working to filter spam from your mailbox through an aggressive strategy based on standard copyright and trademark law. Through the company's licensing agreement, you are allowed to insert a copyrighted haiku into the headers of your email, notifying the recipient that the mail is not spam. Anyone who uses the haiku in violation of the license will...

Check out the cover of a gardening catalog from Plant Delights Nursery I received today. They always have good ones, but this one really takes the cake. Click even if you hate plants. p.s. If you want to get your own copy, you can, but be nice and send them stamps or chocolate. p.p.s. You should just send me chocolate....

The New York Times reports that it is damned near impossible to teach ethics to business school students. Robert Prentice, professor of business law at the UT-Austin b-school suggests employing actual lawyers to teach business law to management students. He makes a good point about the business of ethics: in economic terms, "any business strategy or activity that does not...

While traipsing about town last week I came upon a new legal periodical, Legal Affairs. The magazine, a non-profit affiliated with Yale Law School, bills itself as "The Magazine at the Intersection of Law and Life." The magazine's take on the law isn't technical; the editors want to explore law in the context of culture and society. To see the...

The Miami Herald reports Vinson & Elkins, who advised Enron on its shady transactions, is touting its experience in hiding cash as a client-attracting strategy. The former lead counsel for Enron says, ''We have nothing to lie low about." As you might remember, Enron hid its debt in the off-shore special-purpose entities Vinson & Elkins is so skilled at creating....

There are reasons for keeping your thoughts to yourself in class. Garrett explicates the more philosophical ones here. His advice -- to listen to many, but decide for yourself -- is spot-on. Your life should not be a pasticcio of others'. But don't try inventing yourself. Discover yourself. If you come to the conclusion you really are a gunner, well...

A mad-tea party has been live for one week!* Already I have had over 1,500 visitors (836 unique visitors). How exciting -- people are actually returning to read me! The praise keeps pouring in, too. A.C. Douglas calls a mad tea-party "mouth-wateringly lovely." I'm blushing, really. If you link to me, be sure to let me know! I love links!...

A few days ago Kausfiles reported the LA Times' comparison of Doris Kearns Goodwin's No Ordinary Time and the sources she "allegedly" filched from. You can see my spin here. This week, Alex Beam of the Boston Globe reports Nussbaum and Ropes & Gray are at it again: The LA Times article is ''junk journalism,'' Nussbaum says. ''Any time you...

Howard thinks my remarks on Lithwick's advice were too vituperative. I try to be nice but sometimes it's hard. Also, I don't do well with coloring inside the lines and my handwriting is simply atrocious. Let me be clear: none of my criticism is personal. I operate under the assumption that everyone is a wonderful human being (unless they are...

Mr. Harris at Ipse Dixit seems to agree with me (or rather, since he said it first, I with him) on Dahlwick's categorization. He also has some great words of advice for new students. Although I simply cannot agree with the highlighter's usefulness, everyone uses them, so his advice remains sage. He also had "no choice" to link back to...

I was going to put this at the bottom of the last entry, but it really deserves its own. Here's some actual advice on learning, not just grades, from Professor Schwartz at Hastings. I don't know if I'd talk to myself in the mirror, but it is unusual advice that I've never seen before. It just might work for someone...

Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate, has this advice for new law students. Generally good advice, except that highlighters are pure evil in my book and ignoring your grades is something a student just can't do any more. In the initial screening interview most employers demand a transcript (and an explanation of each aberration) in addition to your writing sample....

Today I received this lovely invitation in the mail: For Commitment To The Study of Law We cordially invite you to apply for membership in WHO'S WHO: AMERICAN LAW STUDENTS You can apply for inclusion in this marvelous directory at Summa Publishing. Law students eligible for this honor meet one or more of their criteria (click More below for the...

I had meant to return to the game of legal chess at a later date to discuss the dilemma of the defecting law student. Fortunately Garrett has beaten me to it and I am no longer on the hook for the flipside. His response provides an excellent counterpoint to my post. The very best law students will presumably wait until...

More on Peabody & Arnold - in case you didn't get it the first time, Peabody & Arnold has also rescinded all offers to incoming associates (according to a source)....

Law students (or anyone with a .edu email address) can get their very own PDF copy of the AmLaw 100 poster. I get goosebumps just thinking about it! Don't Link is back online after exceeding its bandwidth allocation. I've sent in my own submission - Law.com's linking policy states: No material from the law.com Web site may be copied, reproduced,...

You can now find all site news and technical changes at -- amazingly enough -- the Site News link to the right. Will wonders never cease?...

The question this morning, dear readers, is, do you feel better? About the economy, that is! That's what the Boston Globe is asking, anyways. Should we feel better? Is there anything to feel good about? Anyone involved in the recent accounting scandals is likely to have signed off on the new SEC certification. In fact, they've probably improved their fraudulent...

Politics is strategy -- and what better word than politics can describe the scheme of Federal clerk hiring? It’s hardly a surprise that chinks are starting to appear in federal appellate hiring “consensus.” (Thanks to Howard for pointing out Judge Smith's defection.) It's time for lawyers and legal theorists to wake up and smell the strategy! A Game of Legal...

Thank you all for your kind words of support and encouragement. I never imagined my silly brand of persiflage would be so well received! Keep sending me email of a general nature (including site and topical suggestions), but if you would like to comment on a specific entry, please use the commenting feature. You can now find a list of...

It's that time of year again! Like all other law students before me, I have some advice for first-years. Don't be the pompous windbag who speaks just to hear himself talk. Nobody likes that guy. Many law students operate under the conceit that they will be the one the professor bestows the slight nudge for class participation come grade time....

Ooooh! Linkage! After requesting a link on Ernie the Attorney's Law Blawg Outline (a wonderful repository of links that shall be explored shortly), he has this nice thing to say about me: "She certainly doesn't seem shy about voicing her views." I simply must say that I agree entirely! Shortly thereafter, I discovered Denise at Bag and Baggage has also...

We all know that Doris Kearns Goodwin is a plagiarizer. But did Ropes & Gray really think their seal of approval (see Kausfiles) would prevent people from examining "her" book closely? Obviously her lawyer has to run damage control, but to actually say to the New York Times (4/31/02) -- "Under the auspices of the law firm of Ropes &...

Berkeley's J-school will have students creating an intellectual property weblog in the fall. There's some interesting stuff to be considered here, like websites that want to prevent linking to anything but their homepage [deep linking], copyright, or even libel. Anyways, I can't see that journalists, even with a cursory introduction to intellectual property, will really get it right. Collecting mainstream...

Yeah yeah yeah. Lessig has a newsfeed now. You know why? I wrote in to News Is Free last night suggesting his site for a feed. I take it back. I actually wrote to syndic8. They have a system where they can scrape content from a non-syndicated site into an XML feed. Yay me. After discovering this wonderful way of...

Yes, it is the ever-unbiased Vault.com annual prestige rankings. Hale & Dorr, Fish & Richardson, and Testa are tops in Boston for quality of life. I am certain if you piddle around the site you will find a lot of great information on collegial atmospheres and relaxed working environments. Really, who are they kidding?...

I didn't design this site with placing buttons all over the place in mind (actually, I normally find it terribly annoying). However, I think the Eldred v. Ashcroft site deserves a button. (You can get a quick background of the case here, if you don't want to sift through all the information on the site.). I believe that the United...

Yes, Virginia, we are laying off associates and cutting back on summers! Here and here. Don't forget to make a good impression if you've actually got a job....

Just a general site to index, categorize* and archive general thoughts about law, law school, and lawyering. I will not record daily minutiae here -- it's boring. Nobody wants to read about the lady I saw walking her dog, and I certainly don't want to write about it. However, I will attempt to collect salient news and articles about the...

Peabody & Arnold is laying off 110 employees. At least they are retaining a consultant "to help associates assess their options." Umm, yeah, and just exactly what options would those be? I think the paralegals & support staff probably have a better chance than the lawyers!...

Gee, it would sure be fun to live in Minneapolis! (You know, the city's trademark is "The Coolest Place on Earth!"). It's uh, the City of Lakes! I really don't think that even massive cost of living adjustments could drag me to Minnesota. How do they get profits/partner of $3M+ out there anyways?...

Yes indeed, there are law journals that devote entire issues to attorney unhappiness....

The sad, sad story of one NYC Associate....

The day after the bar exam, Hutchins, Wheeler & Dittmar told incoming first-years not to bother coming in and canceled all OCI/fall interviewing. Turns out they are in merger discussions with Nixon Peabody. Seems an ominous start to recruiting season....

The AmLaw 100 survey is full of very interesting things! Profits per partner (generally) go down among large Boston firms. Mintz Levin -- 710->510 Hale & Dorr -- 835->750 Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault -- 825->745 Ropes & Gray -- 800->750 Goodwin Procter -- 755->855 Bingham -- 855->870...